supermarket

Richard’s Foodporium, a locally-based and family-owned chain of natural and specialty food stores, will open a new grocery store in North Port next month.

The new store will open in the The Shoppers of North Port shopping center at Tamiami Trail and Sumter Boulevard. The food retailer signed a lease for the 14999 Tamiami Trail space with Om Ventures on April 1. Construction has already begun, and the store is slated to open by the end of June.

The inside of the store will have a similar look and feel to other Richard’s stores in the Sarasota and Tampa Bay areas, and will sell a mix of bulk foods, vitamins, supplements and grocery goods.

Other tenants in the plaza include a Goodwill, H&R Block, Papa John’s Pizza and a You Fit Health Club, among others.

“We’re excited to be opening a store in North Port. We’ve received numerous requests from consumers there, and it’s a market
pocket we’ve wanted to fill for a long time,” said owner, John Rorer. “It’s a perfect location, and I expect this store to jump out quickly.”

Rorer said he saw an opportunity to be at the forefront of offering natural and specialty foods to the North Port community.

The new store will be open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday.

Richard’s Foodporium has 18 grocery stores in Florida and 16 company-owned stores. The chain also operates a 22,000-square-foot warehouse complex in north Sarasota.

For more shopping news in Southwest Florida, follow reporter Justine Griffin on Twitter and Facebook or email her at justine.griffin@heraldtribune.com. Read What’s In Store in print on Tuesdays.

Sarasota-based independent specialty food store, Morton’s Gourmet Market, has signed a lease to open a new grocery store in the former Siesta Market store.

Morton’s Gourmet Market hopes to open a second grocery store on Siesta Key this summer, confirmed operating partner, Todd Morton.

Siesta Market, an independent grocer that’s been a staple on Siesta Key for decades, will close this month as the longtime owners, brothers Peter and Vincent Messina,prepare to retire. Morton’s will take over the space at 205 Canal Rd.

“The Siesta Key store won’t be an exact replica of our store in Southside Village, but it will offer regular groceries to residents and tourists on the key who don’t want to drive off the island,” Morton said. “The new store will also have an emphasis on prepared foods.”

The building, which was bought by investor Christopher J. Brown along with some other properties in Novemberfor $2.8 million, will likely be renovated.

Morton’s originally opened in Sarasota in 1952. Morton’s operated another grocery store on Main Street in Lakewood Ranch for a short time, but the the supermarket closed amid the economic downturn.

For more shopping news in Southwest Florida, follow reporter Justine Griffin on Twitter and Facebook or email her at justine.griffin@heraldtribune.com. Read What’s In Store in print on Tuesdays.

The Winn-Dixie store at 2501 Cortez Road W. in Bradenton is closing next month, along with five other stores in the chain, announced the grocer’s parent company, Bi-Lo Holdings.

The Bradenton Winn-Dixie is closing because the supermarket is considered “under performing” and is located close to another Winn-Dixie store in the region. The next closest store is at 7400 Cortez Rd. W., in Bradenton. That store was recently remodeled and reopened in November.

Winn-Dixie stores in Tampa, Georgia and South Carolina were also on the list. All stores will close before April 22.

The public is invited to attend an open house of a recently renovated Winn-Dixie grocery store in Bradenton next week.

On Dec. 5, the Winn-Dixie store at 7400 Cortez Rd. W., will welcome shoppers into the store for a special event from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Customers have the chance to win giveaways, listen to live music and sample the supermarket’s products while touring the new and improved location in Manatee County.

Shoppers can expect to see a new deli, which features a hot bar with hand-carved meats, an expanded produce section, custom-made subs and wraps department, an expanded bakery with specialty desserts section, a brand new cheese shop, new pharmacy and expanded floral section.

Last year, Bi-Lo Holdings purchased Tampa-based Sweetbay Supermarkets and began converting the defunct stores into Winn-Dixie locations. The Cortez Road store in Bradenton has been a longstanding Winn-Dixie store. Renovations began in July. In 2012, Winn-Dixie spent $6 million in renovations to update the supermarket on Fruitville Road in Sarasota.

Photo by Dan Wagner, Herald-Tribune staff

For more shopping news in Southwest Florida, follow reporter Justine Griffin on Twitter and Facebook or email her at justine.griffin@heraldtribune.com. Read What’s In Store in print on Tuesdays.

GFS Marketplace opened its first grocery store in Sarasota County this week. Check out a quick virtual tour of the new store, located at 6307 S. Tamiami Trail.

The bulk grocery chain caters mostly to restaurant owners, but is open to anyone. Unlike Sam’s Club and Costco Wholesale, there is no membership required to shop. Read more about the new location here.

Interested in being apart of the What’s in Store video series? Pitch your story ideas to Justine directly by emailing her here.

For more shopping news in Southwest Florida, follow reporter Justine Griffin on Twitter and Facebook or email her at justine.griffin@heraldtribune.com. Read What’s In Store in print on Tuesdays.

Gordon Food Service Marketplace, a grocery chain that distributes primarily to restaurants and caterers, is getting close to opening its first store in Sarasota County.

The Grand Rapids, Mich.-based chain is hosting a ribbon cutting ceremony on Oct. 7 at 10 a.m., which will kick off an entire week of grand opening events. The 2,600-square-foot store will open on Sunday Sept. 28 in the former Sound Advice location at 6307 S Tamiami Trail near Stickney Point Road. Benderson Development Inc. bought the building in 2013.

GFS Marketplace has another location in Bradenton at 4605 14th St. Unlike other bulk-food competitors such as Costco Wholesale Club or Walmart Stores Inc.’s Sam’s Club, no membership is required at GFS Marketplace.

“We are pleased to be opening this new location in Sarasota,” said Jay Zylstra, president of GFS Marketplace. “We appreciate the opportunity to be able to offer our quality products and services to the residents of Sarasota.”

Grand opening festivities will continue through the week of Oct. 11. Customers can experience food tastings inside the store each day and enter a drawing for a chance to win a $300 shopping spree.

GFS Marketplace will be open Monday through Saturday from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.

For more shopping news in Southwest Florida, follow reporter Justine Griffin on Twitter and Facebook or email her at justine.griffin@heraldtribune.com. Read What’s In Store in print on Tuesdays.

Gordon Food Service, a grocery chain that distributes primarily to restaurants and caterers, will open its first store in Sarasota County next month.

The company will open a brand new 12,600-square-foot store on Sept. 28 in the former Sound Advice location at 6307 S Tamiami Trail near Stickney Point Road. Benderson Development Inc. bought the building in 2013.

In addition to its 130 marketplace stores across the country — including in Bradenton, Fort Myers and St. Petersburg — Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Gordon is the largest privately held food distributor in North America. GFS Marketplace stores range in size from 15,000-25,000 square feet — smaller than a typical Walmart Neighborhood Market or a Trader Joe’s outlet — and sell bulk foods and other items to the public.

Unlike other bulk-food competitors such as Costco Wholesale Club or Walmart Stores Inc.’s Sam’s Club, no membership is required at GFS Marketplace.

Bulk Nation USA closes

At the same time, a local GFS Marketplace comeptitor, Bulk Nation USA, closed its doors in Sarasota. The food retailer at 4034 S. Tamiami Trail, specialized in bulk offerings of dry goods like coffee, rice, pasta, nuts, candy, among other items. It remained open for a little more than a year.

According to the company’s website, it may be relocating the Sarasota store. The company has other locations in Tampa and Orlando.

For more shopping news in Southwest Florida, follow reporter Justine Griffin on Twitter and Facebook or email her at justine.griffin@heraldtribune.com. Read What’s In Store in print on Tuesdays.

Southwest Florida area Sweetbay Supermarkets will close at the end of March as they transition into Winn-Dixie stores, local employees are reporting.

Jacksonville-based Bi-Lo Holdings purchased the Tampa Bay-based Sweetbay chain and two other brands from Sweetbay”s parent, Belgium-based Delhaize Group in May 2013. The $265 million deal included 72 Sweetbay stores in Florida and the leases for 10 Sweetbay stores that were closed before the sale.

This week, both grocery companies announced that they received approval to move forward with the sale from the Federal Trade Commission. The order will be subject to final approval by the FTC at the end of March, after a 30-day comment period.Local employees say Sweetbay stores will close on March 22 for 6-7 days as they transition into Winn-Dixie stores. That date is subject to change, as it falls before the official approval date set by the FTC.

Sweetbay closed 33 stores a year ago, or 30 percent of its locations in Florida, including four in Sarasota and Manatee counties. They will remain closed. Ten Sweetbay stores remain open in Southwest Florida.

Sweetbay Supermarkets began as a conversion of the former Kash N’ Karry in 2004. Now it will follow in its predecessor’s footsteps as an extinct grocery store brand in Florida.

Remaining Sweetbay Supermarkets expected to transition into Winn-Dixie stores at the end of March:

Sarasota County:

1325 S. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota

4230 Bee Ridge Road, Sarasota

2881 Clark Road, Sarasota

458 U.S. 41, Venice

1254 Jacaranda Blvd., Venice

Manatee County

5802 14th St. W., Bradenton

2501 Cortez Road W., Bradenton

5805 Manatee Ave. W., Bradenton

515 Seventh St. W., Palmetto

Charlotte County

1951 S. McCall Road, Englewood

Photo by Chip Litherland, Herald-Tribune staff

For more shopping news in Southwest Florida, follow reporter Justine Griffin on Twitter and Facebook or email her at justine.griffin@heraldtribune.com. Read What’s In Store in print on Tuesdays.

A brand new 45,000-square-foot Publix is set to open on Oct. 17 at State Road 70 and Lockwood Ridge Road in Bradenton.

The Benderson Development-owned plaza at4505 53rd Ave. E in east Manatee County was built from the ground up this year. Publix, the anchor in the plaza, will host a grand opening ceremony beginning with a ribbon cutting at 7:45 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 17.

The first customers inside the store at 8 a.m. will receive a free reusable Publix bag.

Other national chain tenants coming to the plaza include Subway and Hair Cuttery.

Image courtesy of Benderson Development.

For more shopping news in Southwest Florida, follow reporter Justine Griffin on Twitter and Facebook or email her at justine.griffin@heraldtribune.com. Read What’s In Store in print on Tuesdays.